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Science 327 (5969): 1126-1129

Copyright © 2010 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

A Nodule-Specific Protein Secretory Pathway Required for Nitrogen-Fixing Symbiosis

Dong Wang,1 Joel Griffitts,1,* Colby Starker,1,{dagger} Elena Fedorova,2,3 Erik Limpens,2 Sergey Ivanov,2,3 Ton Bisseling,2 Sharon Long1,{ddagger}

Abstract: The nitrogen-fixing symbiosis between Sinorhizobium meliloti and its leguminous host plant Medicago truncatula occurs in a specialized root organ called the nodule. Bacteria that are released into plant cells are surrounded by a unique plant membrane compartment termed a symbiosome. We found that in the symbiosis-defective dnf1 mutant of M. truncatula, bacteroid and symbiosome development are blocked. We identified the DNF1 gene as encoding a subunit of a signal peptidase complex that is highly expressed in nodules. By analyzing data from whole-genome expression analysis, we propose that correct symbiosome development in M. truncatula requires the orderly secretion of protein constituents through coordinated up-regulation of a nodule-specific pathway exemplified by DNF1.

1 Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
2 Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Experimental Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, Netherlands.
3 K.A. Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Botanicheskaya 35, Moscow 127392, Russia.

* Present address: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.

{dagger}Present address: Department of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.

{ddagger}To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: SRL{at}stanford.edu

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